Department Overview - Staffing, Jurisdiction

The Pierce County Sheriff's Department is a "full service agency" that provides law enforcement, jail, court security, civil processing services to all areas of unincorporated Pierce County and the contract cities of Edgewood and University Place. We serve the second largest county in the State of Washington with over 795,245 residents county wide, 372,545 of which live in unincorporated areas.

The term "unincorporated" refers to any areas that do not fall within the limits of a city in Pierce County, such as the City of Tacoma, City of Lakewood, City of Puyallup, etc. Unincorporated areas in Pierce County include Parkland, Spanaway, Graham, South Hill, Frederickson, Purdy, Vaughn, Key Peninsula, and many of the areas surrounding the cities of Bonney Lake, Puyallup, Eatonville, and Roy.

We provide law enforcement services over a very large and difficult geography that streches from the Key Peninsula to Mount Rainier. This includes mountains, rivers, lakes, coastline, and heavily wooded areas that border populous residential areas, a large military base, and a major interstate.

Our department consists of 300 commissioned officers that serve unincorporated areas, plus 6 commissioned officers in the City of Edgewood and 16 commissioned officers in the City of University Place. Our department is also comprised of 309 commissioned corrections officers and 61 civilian employees.